Sound climate policy is urgently needed

IN his recent letter, Mr Gareth Jones appeals for some ‘good old common sense’ regarding the problem of global warming, when in fact what is needed is the injection of some logic into his argument.

He appears to be saying that just because several senior climate scientists, such as Professor Richard Betts, believe it is very likely that the critical threshold of 1.5C warming above pre-industrial levels will be breached within the next decade or two, this is a reason to believe that we are being indoctrinated about climate change, there is no problem, and nothing needs to be done.

Professor Betts and his colleagues have by no means given up on the warnings about unchecked global warming. On the contrary, they are pointing out that governments have not taken the appropriate steps to curb the emissions of greenhouse gases and to keep global temperatures below the critical threshold, and that transformative policies are more than ever required to prevent disastrous and catastrophic scenarios for the human race occurring in the future.

Professor Bruce Webb Exeter, Devon